Children and Young
People’s Partnership
Prevention and
Early Intervention
Strategy
Foreword Joyce Thacker
I am delighted to introduce this very important document which sets out a renewed
commitment for all agencies in Rotherham to improve the support we offer to our
children, young people and families.
This strategy outlines how we will develop and work together to provide the most
appropriate services at the earliest opportunity. Prevention is always better than cure
and the earlier we can work with children, young people and families the bigger
impact we can make.
Prevention and early intervention is one of the four ‘big things’ in the new Rotherham
Children and Young People’s Plan and underpins everything we do for children,
young people and families.
We are therefore also calling for a change in the way we work with children, young
people and families to focus on that early support. We all need to make that
renewed commitment to ensure our services are co-ordinated, integrated, accessible
and personalised to the needs and strengths of individual children, young people and
families.
That will mean that families are much more likely to be able to find support and help
should problems arise. Research shows that prevention, early intervention and joint
working can significantly reduce the need for statutory intervention later on in
children’s lives.
In my role I am in the privileged position of going out and seeing numerous excellent
examples of colleagues working with families to overcome difficulties and improve
children’s life chances. I also see the positive impact that work actually has on
children and families. These services are delivered by an amazing variety of
voluntary and community sector organisations as well as by public sector agencies
Our challenge then is to work together to improve the co-ordination of services and
be ready to support families as soon as possible when they ask for help. Alongside
that, we need to actively seek out those families who are isolated or marginalised
and support them to find the services that they need. This strategy focuses on how
we can do this.
The support and protection of children and young people is a shared responsibility
and I ask you to join me in working together to improve the lives of all children, young
people and their families in Rotherham.
Yours sincerely,
Joyce Thacker
Strategic Director, Children and Young People’s Services
PLEDGE
We are committed to identifying need and supporting children, young people and families at
the earliest possible stage. We will change our focus to a preventative and early
intervention approach with a radical shift of ways of working and resourcing to support this.
This is a significant step forward for integrated working in Rotherham.
“Working together to improve the lives of all Rotherham’s children and young people.”
(Rotherham’s Children and Young People’s Plan 2010-2013)
PRINCIPLES
We will provide services which meet the needs of children, young people and
families/carers by:




listening to them and ensuring they help shape our services
not being restricted by an organisation’s boundaries
working with adult and community services to support the whole family
recognising that all communities are different and adapting to meet
those needs
 ensuring easy access and the highest quality of support
As organisations we will also ensure that:
 where people work together, they will train together
 our staff understand the principles and practice of sharing information to
ensure seamless care and support
 managers and practitioners know what other services are available so
they can avoid duplication and signpost people to the help they need
 we will contribute fully in all cases
Contents
Introduction
Page 5
Definition
Page 6
National Strategic Drivers
Page 7
Strategic Objectives
Page 9
Vision
Page 9
Identification of Need
Page 10
Risk Factors
Page 11
The Prevention and Early Intervention
Framework
Page 12
Universal Services – First Line of
Support
Page 14
Early Intervention Work
Page 14
Early Years (pre-birth to 5 years)
Page 14
Schools and Partners (5-16 years)
Page 16
Targeted Youth Support (16 years)
Page 17
CAF and Team Around the Child
Page 18
Early Intervention Panels
Page 19
Think Family Panels
Page 21
Parenting
Page 23
Workforce Development
Page 24
Appendix 1 – Continuum of Needs/
Indicators
Page 25
Appendix 2 – Common Assessment
Framework Process
Page 30
4
Introduction
This strategy seeks to reform systems and better coordinate the support that
vulnerable children, young people and families receive from childrens’, adults’ and
family services with the aim of improving outcomes for children. These outcomes will
only be improved if the focus can be shifted from dealing with the consequences of
difficulties in the lives of children and young people, to preventing things from going
wrong in the first place.
“It is always better to prevent failure than to tackle a crisis later”
(National Children’s Plan: Building Brighter Futures)
The strategy provides processes and tools which enable services to work together to
identify families at risk of poor outcomes and to provide support at the earliest
opportunity. It is designed to provide the framework within which all partners can
cooperate, prioritise and coordinate their collective efforts. It requires the involvement
of a wide range of universal and targeted services working across all sectors working
together to meet the full range of needs within each family. It requires the involvement
of universal services such as schools, Children’s Centres, youth workers, maternity
services, GP’s, the health visiting and school nursing services and voluntary and
community sector organisations, who are often best placed to identify vulnerable
children and families and who can offer early action to prevent and tackle problems
before situations escalate into crisis.
As well as childrens’ services working together more effectively, the delivery of an
effective preventative strategy depends on children’s services developing working
arrangements with adults’ services. Services for adults have a vital role to play,
including identifying risk, ensuring parents have the skills to respond appropriately to
the needs of their children and minimising the risk of parental problems affecting the
lives of the children in the family. This strategy establishes the development of
protocols and partnership arrangements between Children and Young People’s
Service and those working with adults, to ensure a whole family approach to tackling
poor outcomes for children and families.
“Early Intervention is a shared responsibility for all who work with children, young
people and families”. (Early Intervention: securing good outcomes for children and
young people. DCSF 2010)
An underlying principle within this strategy is that any intervention is negotiated with
families. The ‘Strengthening Families’ approach to working with children, young
people and families seeks to develop partnerships between services and families,
ensuring families are listened to and actively involved in any planned intervention
whenever possible, that it is not imposed on the family other than in exceptional and
serious circumstances. We aim to do things with the family, rather than to the family,
and thus we will ensure synergy with the emerging Parenting Strategy, as parental
support is seen as a key element of any preventative work with families.
5
Definition
Prevention and early intervention are often used interchangeably. We would concur
with the Government definition of prevention as actions that boost children’s
resilience and protect them from potential poor outcomes and of early intervention
which means intervening as soon as possible to tackle problems that have already
emerged for children and young people.
Preventative services would include:
 giving information to families around support that is available
 offering leisure activities for children to socialise and stay healthy
 educational opportunities in and around schools for children to develop their full
intellectual potential
 routine assessment and identification of need by the health visiting and school
nursing services
 delivery of health promoting activities
Examples of early intervention strategies would include:
 early identification of children and young people with health and development
problems that if left unattended would significantly impact on their future
physical, emotional and social well being
 offering parental support to parents and carers who are having difficulties
bringing up their children
 providing extra support in the classroom for children with additional learning
needs
 responding to early indicators around anti social behaviour amongst young
people by delivering activities aimed at reducing the likelihood of criminal
activity.
Early intervention may be required for children of any age. Support in the early years
of children’s lives can be very effective as we support families as soon as they
encounter problems. However, families with children of any age may experience
difficulties and need additional support.
6
National Strategic Drivers
The Rotherham Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy and the model for
integrated working is in line with a number of key national strategic drivers.
“It is essential that everyone who works with children, young people and families
understands the difference they can make to children and young people’s outcomes,
knows how they need to work with other professionals to ensure that services are
integrated and personalised to respond to the needs and strengths of individual
children and has the skills, knowledge and expertise to do their job to world class
standards.”
The Children's Plan 2009
“Early action is the key, later interventions, although important are considerably less
effective if they [children] have not had good early foundations”
Maternity and Early Years, making a good start to family life 2010
“BSF investment will be used to bring together schools and Children’s Centres, social
care, health, voluntary sector and youth provision within ‘Full Service Extended
Learning Communities’. Multi-disciplinary teams of professionals and services will
provide locally based, accessible, connected and responsive early support for
children, young people and families, These partnerships will provide a highly
personalised ‘bespoke’ offer so that no child or family is left behind.”
Building Schools for the Future: Strategy for Change Part 1 – April 2009
“Schools will place an even stronger emphasis on working in partnership as, working
in isolation, no one school will be able to deliver the broad range of inputs and
outcomes we want to see. There is strong partnership with those delivering other
children’s services in the local area, whether from the statutory, third or independent
sector – under the umbrella of the Children’s Trust: the partnership in each area which
brings together the organisations responsible for services for children, young people
and families in a shared commitment to improving children’s lives. This would include
school’s shared role in safeguarding children and young people “
21st Century Schools: A World-Class Education for Every Child
“Healthy lives, brighter futures” set out how we will work in partnership with local
authorities and primary care trusts and those working across children’s health services
to build the quality of support for families at key stages in their children’s lives.”
Healthy lives, brighter futures: The strategy for children and young people’s health – Feb 2009
“The factors which contribute to many other poor outcomes for young people also
contribute to offending behaviour. If we tackle those we will also prevent youth crime
and cut re-offending.”
Youth Crime Action Plan – HM Government 2008
“Multi disciplinary working helps to ensure that children, young people and their
families are given swift and simple access to the complimentary skills of a wide range
of people working together. It is not about losing the benefit of individual specialisms,
although joint working may lead to some remodelling of roles.”
Every Child Matters: Change for Children DfES (2004 )
“At the same time as taking advantage of the opportunities presented by partnership
for pupils on their own roll, it is important that schools take some responsibility for
7
pupils in the area more widely. We will legislate to make clear that the school may use
some of its resources for this sort of work and to take on these wider responsibilities.
We will make clear that the school has responsibilities:
 first, to the pupils on its own roll;
 second, to other children and young people in the wider area; and
 third, to the wider community which it serves.”
Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future: building a 21st century schools system Nov 2009
“ … health, education and other partners, working together across a range of settings,
can significantly enhance a child or young persons life”
Healthy Child Programme (from 5-19yrs old) DoH & DFCSF
“Early intervention is vital – not only in ensuring that fewer and fewer children grow up
in abusive and neglectful homes, but also to help as many children as possible to
reach their full potential”
The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report. The Lord Laming, 2009
8
Strategic Objectives
The strategic objectives that the strategy aims to achieve are:

to create multi agency partnerships that work together to improve outcomes for
children, young people and families

to support the re-focusing of resources from crisis intervention to prevention

to identify need at the earliest opportunity

to provide swift and easy access to support

to develop personalised, family focused action plans for individual children,
young people and families

to ensure clear accountability for the delivery of agreed outcomes

to provide the tools and process to enable services to work together

to deliver learning and development opportunities across all sectors that equip
staff to work together

to develop agreements that enable children’s services to work with adult
services

to ensure families are actively involved in planning and agreeing the support
offered
Prevention and early intervention is one of the four ‘big things’ that will guide the
activity within the Rotherham’s Children and Young Peoples Plan 2010-2013. What
these ‘big things’ have in common is that their impact will be felt across the children
and young people’s partnership in every aspect of how services are delivered to
children and young people; they will run through all activities and areas of focus
outlined in the plan and require the involvement of every partner.
Vision
‘Working together to improve the lives of all Rotherham’s children and young
people.’
Rotherham’s Children and Young Peoples Plan 2010-2013
9
Identification of Need
The key factor in the prevention and early intervention agenda is the early
identification of risk and/or need. The emphasis of this strategy is on ensuring an early
robust response to developing problems, providing timely and accurate assessment
and, where required, bringing together services more quickly to identify actions that
are required. This will reduce the number of children and families requiring more
intensive, specialist and complex support.
Universal services play a key part in the early identification of need as they engage
with all children at some stage and are in a prime position to identify disadvantage or
emerging difficulties. The most significant universal services are schools, Children’s
Centres, early years settings, youth services, primary health care services and
voluntary sector providers.
Rotherham Children and Young People’s Board has adopted a tiered model to help
understand levels of need.
Rotherham Every Child Matters Continuum
Level 1
Single- agency
liaison and
response
Level 0
Children / families in
universal services
Level 2
Multi-agency
assessment
and response
CAF meeting
Level 3
Multi-agency
assessment and
response;
Child in Need meeting
Level 4
Child in Need
Multi-agency
action plan;
assessment and
review process
response; initial/core
assessment led by
CYPS Social
Level 5
Care
Multi-agency
assessment and
Consultation
response; core assessment,
in accordance with child protection
procedures, led by Social Care
There are very clear systems and processes in place that coordinate services to
support children and young people at levels three, four and five. These are
documented in The Safe and Well Practice Guidance: Integrated Working with
Children and Young People with Additional or Complex Needs and in the
Safeguarding Children Procedures. A successful prevention strategy would ensure
that services delivering support to children, young people and families in levels 0, 1
10
and 2 work together effectively developing personalised action plans for each
individual child and family with an identified need. The result of effective delivery at
these lower levels would be a reduction in the numbers of children and families
requiring services at levels 3, 4 and 5.
Work at level 1 will often be single discipline where as work at level 2 and above is
more likely to involve more than one agency. At level 2, the use of the Common
Assessment Framework and the protocols outlined in the Safe and Well Practice
Guidance must be adhered to.
Across Rotherham, there are already many examples of good practice where staff
from different services and organisations work well together to improve the lives of our
children, young people and families. In developing this strategy, these models will be
used to inform practice across the borough. However, whilst the provision of services
will necessarily differ according to local need, it is imperative that children, young
people and families have access to universal, coordinated and effective support
packages that are galvanised at the very earliest opportunity, and that are in place
wherever that family lives.
Risk Factors
The ‘Safe and Well Practice Guidance’ and the ‘Think Family Toolkit’ identifies a
number of warning signs which would identify a child, young person or family as
vulnerable in some way. They would become a priority for the provision of universal or
targeted support. These warning signs can be considered as risk factors and may
include:signs of neglect
poor attainment at school
homelessness or housing issues
poor school attendance
a learning disability
domestic violence
young carer
teenage pregnancy
social exclusion
mental ill health of a parent or carer
complex care needs
significant under/over weight
substance misuse
sexual exploitation
children leaving care
relationship conflict
children of migrant workers or travellers
no parent in work
involvement in crime
low parental education and skills
low income or poverty
parent in prison
looked after children
In Rotherham, we have developed a Continuum of Needs/Indicators (see Appendix
1). Anyone working with children, young people and families would have access to this
matrix which would act as an early warning that there are concerns about an individual
child, young person or family. The matrix will form the basis of discussion around the
needs of named children, young people and their families who have been identified as
having issues that in some way make that child or family vulnerable and thereby
reduce the potential for meeting the ECM outcomes.
11
The Prevention and Early Intervention Framework
The diagram overleaf illustrates the Prevention and Early Intervention Framework for
Rotherham. This framework is organised around the proposed learning communities
which ensures consistency with the Transforming Rotherham Learning (TRL) strategy.
The TRL strategy is one of building a network of Learning Communities based around
families of schools and includes other providers of children’s services operating in that
Learning Community boundary. It will encompass integrated service provision built
around local needs and aspirations. Building on successful Integrated Services
Pathfinder Projects (e.g. Clifton), each Learning Community will develop the way in
which services can come together to provide more cohesive and integrated care and
support built around the needs children, young people and their families. In some
areas, there are already established integrated and co-located children’s services with
agreed protocols and practice for cross service funding of shared space and
resources. These developments include initiatives that enable shared access to
information and data. The TRL Project aims to extend and develop this approach by
engineering bespoke centres for teams of multi-agency practitioners. Early
ntervention panels and Think Family Locality Panels will be the vehicle to develop
integrated locality working, focusing on better communication across services and
more effective, coordinated support for families.
The strategy brings Children’s Centres, social care, health services, schools, youth
provision, extended learning and voluntary services together to build effective local
inter-agency partnerships that offer local, accessible and connected early intervention
to children and their carers and ensure that no child is left behind (BSF Strategy for
Change).
The TRL strategy provides a framework around which learning communities can
organise their preventative and early intervention responses and it places the onus on
the learning community to deliver tangible improvements in outcomes for children and
families. It does not however, dictate the structures and processes within that
framework. There will be local discretion as to the local arrangements. Indeed, some
learning communities already have effective multi agency forums in place.
How and where services are accessed and delivered is important. Rotherham has well
established areas of service provision. We will conform for maximum effectiveness
with these, in particular Localities (based upon Area Assembly boundaries) and
Learning Communities (school clusters).
Every Child Matters originally referred to all services being available ‘within pram
pushing distance’, and we are committed to local, community delivery of services
wherever and whenever possible.
12
Universal services including voluntary and community sector
organisations working together on prevention and early support for
children, young people and families
FOLLOW CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES IF CHILD AT RISK OF HARM OR NEGLECT
Children and Young
People’s Services
Prevention and Early Intervention Framework
COMMON ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
N.B. Not all early intervention work will require a CAF
Early Intervention Work
Pre-Birth – 5yrs
Learning Communities
Early Years
Services
5yrs – 16yrs
Schools and
Partners
16yrs Plus
Targeted Youth
Support
Teams Around
the
Child
Locality
Early Intervention
Panel
Think Family Panel
13
Universal Services – First Line of Support
Children and Young People’s universal services and voluntary and community sector
organisations already deliver preventative and early intervention work. Much of this
work is delivered by single agencies. There are also lots of examples of proactive,
effective partnership working that improves outcomes for children, young people and
families. However, we need to integrate and coordinate these services better to
enable the delivery of relevant and timely prevention and early intervention which is
central to what we aim to achieve.
All the universal services have plans in place to support children, young people and
families with clear intended outcomes identified for those children and families. These
plans are in line with the processes of each relevant organisation. For example there
may be a health intervention from a school nurse, the health visitor may visit a mother
to offer advice on breast feeding, the young person may be encouraged to access
youth work activity, the parent may be invited to a family learning engagement session
or, a Children’s Centre outreach worker may be asked to visit the family at home and
engage the parent/carer in Children’s Centre activities. The majority of a child, young
person and family’s needs are likely to be met by universal services. If those needs
escalate, there will be a need for early intervention aimed at halting the further
negative development of that need.
Early Intervention Work
Whilst establishing and embedding the prevention and early intervention strategy, we
will coordinate services around different stages in the lives of children and young
people. This will enhance existing networks and practice. In some instances,
children and young people may be supported across the sectors. For example some
school aged young people may be referred to the Targeted Youth Support Early
Intervention Teams because of the risk of disengagement at school. There will need to
be good communication across the age related networks to ensure consistency and
continuity. This will be provided by the Learning Communities Multi Agency Early
Intervention panels.
Early Years (pre birth to 5 years)
The first line of support for children at pre-birth and up to 28 days post delivery will be
the midwife. The health visitor works with children 0-5 year olds. Children’s Centres
bring together early education, childcare, health and family support services to deliver
the best start in life for every child. They are service hubs where children under five
and their families can receive seamless integrated services and information. Their
services are universally accessible, whilst retaining a focus on the most vulnerable
and children and families.
In many instances health services and other childhood services already work closely
with Children’s Centres. Indeed, integrated working is central to Children’s Centre
philosophy and practice. However, this practice is not consistent across the borough.
There are also numerous, private, voluntary and independent sector providers working
with this age range. Home-Start for example is an organisation supporting families
who do not access services such as Children’s Centres and who would otherwise be
isolated. This strategy will help establish the structures that will enable these early
14
childhood services and other agencies supporting families from pre-birth to 5 year olds
to work together.
Every Child a Talker
Every Child a Talker (ECAT) aims to improve early years practitioners and parents’
knowledge, understanding and confidence of how young children develop language
and reduce the amount of children at risk of delay.
The project has enabled joint working to take place between speech and language
therapists and early years providers. The speech and language therapists have
delivered a package of training to support practitioners who have then disseminated
this knowledge wider to other practitioners and parents. They have also carried out
intense visits to early years settings to support practitioners with strategies to support
language development.
The ECAT monitoring data has shown that confidence levels of parent and
practitioners involved in the project have increased since they started the project.
More confident practitioners are now more able to recognise children who may be at
risk, carry out the appropriate referral procedures and work with parents to improve
children’s outcomes. The strategies support all children and this allows more children
to develop ahead of what is expected.
The aims of ECAT and this model of joint working will be disseminated across
Rotherham to ensure all those working with early years providers are better able to
identify early children that may be at risk of delay at an early stage and to ensure all
children are supported to fulfil their full potential.
What we are going to do
Within each Learning Community, there will be a main Children’s Centre identified as
that Learning Communities’ base for early intervention meetings. The choice of
centre will depend on a number of factors including resources, staffing, facilities, and
existing partnership arrangements. These meetings will involve a core membership of




Children’s Centre link Health Visitor
Children’s Centre link Midwife
Children’s Centre Outreach Worker
Children’s Centre Family Support Worker
However, dependant on local circumstances, there may be additional core members
e.g. Children’s Centre Special Education Needs Coordinators, Children’s Centre
Inclusion Workers. These teams will be tasked with working together to ensure
support for young children and their families is provided at the earliest opportunity
within the respective Learning Community and will support the delivery of the
Children’s Centre concept of multiagency working.
All practitioners working with pregnant women and young children will be made aware
of the early childhood services intervention meetings, the contact person and the
15
schedule of meetings which will be on a frequent and regular basis. These meetings
will consider any referrals and may discuss any young children or families with whom
they are working and who they feel may require support over and above that offered
by their own service. In some cases, single agencies may be able to deliver the
appropriate support needed or the meeting may agree to undertake a CAF. In these
cases, CAF processes will be followed; this includes the creation of a Team Around
the Child (see below). An example of effective early intervention work with young
children is offered by the Early Support initiative which is the DCSF / DOH approach to
multi-agency working with young children with disabilities and additional needs.
Schools and Partners ( 5-16 years)
For children aged 5-16 years, schools are the key universal service. Most schools
already have strong partnerships with a range of other educational support services.
Many schools have extended this joint working to encompass a much broader range
of partners from across other local authority services, health services, voluntary and
community sector providers, police and so on. Again though, this practice is not
consistent. Schools and their partners will be challenged to establish processes within
the individual school to identify the most vulnerable children and consider what
resources they have to intervene and work with the child, young person and the
family.
What we are going to do
In line with the TRL strategy, families of schools will establish early intervention
meetings for school aged children across the Learning Community. Examples of this
way of working are already in place in some Learning Communities e. g. Clifton.
Children experiencing difficulties in one school may well have siblings in other schools
or in the Children’s Centre within the Learning Community. By working together as a
Learning Community, schools will combine resources to support the whole family. This
will require sharing access to the resources in all schools, not just the designated
recipient schools, thereby improving the provision for everyone.
There will be a nominated Lead for the group, probably from the respective secondary
school. There will be an agreed schedule of meetings which will be on a frequent and
regular basis. These meetings will consider any referrals made from individual schools
around children or families with whom they are working and who they feel may require
support over and above that offered by their own school. There are a wide range of
professionals who could be involved in these school based early intervention
meetings. In some cases a CAF will have been completed by the individual school,
and support will be offered via that school. Not all CAFs will be brought to the schools
Learning Community early intervention meeting as the needs of the child, young
person and family would have been met by the individual school.
Clifton Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST)
Clifton MAST was set up by the schools, to address an identified gap to meet the
needs of vulnerable and challenging youngsters and families, which has the potential
to do more within a locality framework. MAST fits into the existing system and
provides support that is above routine support but below crisis intervention.
16
The team, which meets 6 times a year, includes representation from health, social
care, education and voluntary agencies. All those who attend agree to work under the
‘Joint Confidentiality Agreement for sharing information’. Anyone may, with the
permission of the family, bring a ‘named’ family; or with parental permission a
completed CAF to be discussed at the meeting with the intention of supporting the
action planning process; or an ‘unnamed’ family where there is no parental permission
but where support to generate ideas is needed; or ‘raise the name of a family’ causing
concern to check whether others have concerns (this family is then discussed only by
professionals involved).
What makes it effective is that agencies share information and are willing to jointly
problem solve and we all accept responsibility for all the needs of the youngsters as
promoted in Every Child Matters. We have clarity about who is addressing what
aspects and we have a collective responsibility to deliver the outcomes. We aim to be
persistent and not lose the thread of a case and we repeatedly examine the systems
and structure within MAST to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
Targeted Youth Support (16 years)
For young people who have left school, a range of youth services are working to
support older young people. Numerous voluntary and community sector organisations
work with young people around a range of issues, whilst service such as Youth
Service, Connexions, Youth Offending Services and Police contribute to universal
provision.
What we are going to do
Currently there are youth support early intervention teams organised around localities.
These teams are charged with working with young people identified as being at risk or
who are vulnerable. This includes young people involved in drug and substance
misuse, of involvement in crime and disorder and those at risk of teenage pregnancy.
The teams are managed by a senior youth worker and there is an established referral
process and assessment tool. Fortnightly meetings are held which consider referrals,
allocate workers to individual young people and plan action around named young
people. Progresses on actions are reviewed every three months. These teams
involve:





Senior Youth Workers
Youth Offending Workers (Early Intervention Workers)
Connexions Workers
Teenage Pregnancy Workers
Police
To support the Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy, these teams will mirror the
Learning Community structures and will feed into the Learning Communities Early
Intervention Panels.
17
CAF and Team Around the Child
In some cases, where additional needs are identified the worker may decide, in
consultation with the family, to complete a pre CAF checklist or to undertake an
assessment using the Common Assessment Framework (CAF). The Rotherham
Continuum of Needs/Indicators can support workers with this process. CAFs can
help workers and families identify a child or young person’s strengths, needs and
goals. Not all prevention and early intervention activity will progress onto a CAF.
Often, the support provided by universal services, either working as a single agency or
working in partnership will provide the child, young person and family with the support
they need.
The CAF is particularly suitable for use in integrated early intervention. With the child,
young person or family’s consent, CAFs can be shared between services and used as
a starting point for planning coordinated, multi agency action. At this stage, workers
will need to refer to the Safe and Well Practice Guidance: Integrated Working with
Children and Young People with Additional or Complex Needs and the CAF
process will need to be followed (see appendix 3). If the CAF identifies the need for
specialist intervention, e.g. Educational Psychology, Portage, Early Support for
children with disabilities. Youth Offending ASSET and other statutory assessment
processes, further assessments will need to be undertaken to identify the specialist
support needed.
For those children, young people and families who have additional needs that cannot
be met by the universal services, support may need to come from across the wider
learning community. In some cases, practitioners may need advice as to how to
support a child, young person or family. In the first instance, this should be discussed
with the line manager. A CAF pre-assessment checklist could be completed and if it is
felt appropriate, it may well be agreed to pull together a team around the child to jointly
develop a CAF. That TAC would identify the appropriate person to become the Lead
Worker. If a CAF has been undertaken, the lead worker/CAF author will draw together
the team around the child. The TAC will consist of practitioners whose services have
been identified in the assessment. The TAC would build up a picture of the child,
young person or family’s strengths, needs and goals. The Lead Worker will coordinate
services at the point of delivery and will ensure that information is shared across
agencies and with the child, young person and family. The Lead Worker will also
ensure the process is child, young person and family centred. Any discussions and
decisions will need to be recorded and all CAF documentation should be submitted to
the CAF administrator.
The purpose of the Team Around the Child meetings

To identify a lead worker

To bring together a virtual/flexible team of practitioners to work together on
improving outcomes for identified child, young person and family

To build up a picture of child, young person and families holistic strengths,
needs and goals.
18

To ensure joined up assessment

To co-ordinate services at the point of delivery

To develop a TAC plan

To include the child, young person and family in meetings and information
sharing and to ensure the process is child, young person and family centred

To provide targeted referrals to specialist services

To share information across agencies and with the child, young person and
family centred as appropriate

To review progress

To record any discussions and /or decisions

To ensure the CAF administrator is kept up to date at each stage and that the
relevant forms are submitted as per the CAF process
TAC members will work together on improving outcomes and they will be required to
contribute to an action plan. Responsibility for outcomes would lie with the workers
contributing to the CAF action plan, who would be accountable to their manager within
their respective services. Progress towards achieving outcomes identified in the plan
would be overseen by the Lead Worker. Lead Workers would be supported by three
CAF coordinators working across the Learning Communities. They will champion
CAF, support workers through the process and provide quality assurance for
completed CAFs.
Should issues arise in relation to commitments from agencies, support would be
requested from the relevant Early Intervention Panel.
Early Intervention Panels
Early Intervention panels are inextricably linked to the roll out and multi-agency use of
the CAF, being a key part of Rotherham’s chosen structural response to the early
intervention aspect of the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda.
Each Learning Community will initially have an Early Intervention Panel to oversee the
roll out of the CAF and facilitate the development and functioning of the Team Around
the Child, particularly by ensuring there is a multi-agency engagement with the
agenda.
Early Intervention Panels (EIP) are groups of practitioners working within a Learning
Community who meet regularly and whose members represent key local services
working with children, young people and families. Each panel will have core services
that will be consistent, but other agencies will be invited depending on the different
circumstances and need of individual children, young people and families.
19
The purpose of the Learning Community Early Intervention Panels

To offer timely advice and responses to prevent escalation of need where need
cannot be reasonably met within the TAC processes.

To help broker access to services where necessary to facilitate TAC meetings.

To support the Lead Worker role if the role cannot be reasonably managed by
the TAC team

To have an oversight of all CAFs completed in the Learning Community

To offer support and challenge to ensure the central participation of children,
young people and their families in the CAF and TAC processes

To ensure all relevant CAF documentation is registered with the central
administrator

To have a quality assurance role for all CAFs completed in the Learning
Community

To inform local allocation of resources contributing to prevention and early
support and to inform commissioning decisions in the Learning Community
The function of the EIP would be to have an oversight of all CAFs completed in the
Learning Community and to offer timely advice and responses to prevent escalation of
need where need cannot be reasonably met within the TAC processes. The EIP would
support services who may be working with ‘stuck families’. They would help broker
access to services and to support the Lead Workers role if the role cannot be
reasonably managed by the TAC team. They would offer support and challenge to
ensure the central participation of children, young people and their families in the CAF
and TAC processes. The EIPs would have a quality assurance role for all CAFs
completed in the Learning Community and will inform local allocation of resources and
commissioning decisions contributing to prevention and early intervention.
Rawmarsh Multi Agency Panel
In June 2007, a Multi-Agency Panel was established. Membership includes Primary
School Head Teacher representatives, Children’s Centre Head and Outreach
Workers, Secondary School Assistant Head Teacher and Family Support Worker,
Educational Psychologist, Behaviour Support Service, Learning Support Service,
Rotherham MIND, Social Worker, School Nurse, Health Visitor, Education Welfare
Officer, Police Officer, Senior Youth Worker, Extended Services Partnership Officer,
Connexions Worker.
The agenda is organised in three sections. The first of these is around named cases
which are brought with parental consent and where a CAF has been or is in the
20
process of being completed and where there is the need for multiagency cooperation.
The second is for unnamed cases where there are significant concerns which required
multi- agency consideration and advice. The third part of the meeting provides an
opportunity to discuss concerns emerging in the locality involving children and young
people. This enables the panel to consider how they might best use resources
collectively to prevent deterioration and improve opportunities for children and young
people.
Meetings are held monthly and are chaired by the Locality Manager. Referrals have to
be received 10 days prior to the meeting and the agenda is circulated 5 working days
before the meeting to provide agencies with the opportunity to contribute information
to the meeting. Lead Workers will attend if their cases were being discussed. A
confidentiality protocol was agreed which all members signed up to. Parental consent
had to be secured and an information leaflet about the work and the scope of the
panel was prepared for parents.
Early Intervention Panels will need to be consistent across the Learning Communities.
C&YPS is currently developing a way of facilitating this. The chair would be
accountable to the Director of Community Services within Children and Young
Peoples Service. The Chair will collate an agenda for each meeting in response to
issues raised at TAC meetings or from individual lead workers.
Think Family Panels
Children do not live in isolation. They live in families often with parents experiencing
difficulties. When issues are identified where services working with adults may need to
be involved, protocols will be in place that ensures C&YPS can work with Adult
Services to meet the needs of the whole family. Work is progressing to establish a
borough wide Think Family Board, headed up by the Strategic Director of Children and
Young People’s Services. This Board will be looking to develop a series of service
protocols and frameworks that set out how key adult’ services can work effectively
with children’s and family services. Integrated processes would need to be developed
so that shared assessments and information across agencies give a full picture of a
family’s needs and help ensure support is fully co-ordinated. In an organisation that
‘thinks family’, contact with any service should offer an open door into a broader
system of support.
The partnership is looking at the concept of whole family common assessments which
would require the involvement of a much wider range of services in supporting
families. This support plan for the whole family would pull together agencies from
across adults’ and childrens’ services to play their role in minimising the risk of
parental problems such as domestic violence, mental health, substance misuse or
worklessness affecting children’s outcomes.
At a locality level, Think Family Panels will be established. These forums will meet
quarterly and will be chaired by a senior manager within C&YPS. At this forum,
discussions will be held to improve local arrangements for identification and support of
21
children, young people and families by adult services working more closely with
childrens’ services.
The purpose of the Locality Think Family Panels

To offer strategic support and advice to Early Intervention Teams

To help unblock barriers to multi agency working

To develop strategic links between childrens’ and adults’ services

To agree and support the required workforce development to support the
integration agenda

To feed into the Borough wide Think Family Board

To receive reports from Early Intervention services

To inform strategic planning around integrated working in the Learning
Community

To make decisions about deployment of staff and resources to support the
integration agenda

To look at issues of joint working across services and the Locality

To inform relevant local commissioning decisions
The Think Family Panels will offer strategic support and advice to Early Intervention
Panels by developing strategic links between childrens’ and adults’ services at a
Locality level. They would inform strategic planning around integrated working in the
Locality and make decisions about deployment of staff and resources to support the
integration agenda. They would aim to help unblock barriers to multi agency working
and broker access to services where necessary.
Membership of the Think Family Multi-agency Panels will be at strategic level.
Membership will reflect all services who may contribute to improving outcomes for
children and families. As well as services delivering to children and young people,
these panels would include adult services such as Adult Social Care, Job Centre Plus,
Adult Mental Health Service, Housing, Probation, Citizens Advice and so on. They
would also aim to involve local GPs and Elected Members. Each team will have core
services which will be consistent, but other agencies will be invited depending on the
different circumstances and need of individual children, young people and families in
the locality.
The Chair will be accountable to the Director of Community Services within Children
and Young People’s Service. The panels will report to the Children’s Board and to the
Think Family Board
22
Parenting
This Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy is supported by the Parenting Strategy
for Rotherham. Rotherham is developing a universal and targeted parent offer for all
parents in Rotherham concentrating on their child and family’s journey from pre birth
through to the child being 7 years old.
Currently parents can access a variety of services. Often these are dependent on the
locality in which they live and the professionals based within them. The universal offer
aims to align the services delivered through Health, Social Care, Early Years, Family
Support, Outreach, Children’s Centres, Information services, Benefits advice, Housing
advice and numerous others. Through this alignment and co-ordination parents will be
offered a pathway with seamless transitions to service delivery. The delivery model is
based on developing parents’ understanding of how children develop, offering pre
natal care and advice and, linking into information services for benefits and housing
advice.
This model is being piloted in Rotherham by the 0 to 7 Project which is part of an
action research project for the DCSF. It is envisaged that through the work of the
project there will be long term sustainable change in service delivery for parents and
children, which will ensure early prevention and support.
Other universal support for parents comes in the form of parenting programmes
including Families and Schools Together, Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning,
Social and Emotional Aspects of Development, Child Development and Parenting
Positively. The parenting strategy is working toward offering each Learning
Community a comprehensive package of parenting support.
In addition to developing a universal offer, there are a range of targeted interventions
that focus on specific need. This includes projects such as the Family Intervention
Project. There are also a range of evidence based courses such as Parenting
Positively, Mellow Parenting, Webster Stratton, and Strengthening Families which
target families in tiers 2, 3 and 4 (see the Rotherham Every child Matters Continuum).
Across Rotherham various professionals work with parents. A parenting workforce
development model has been locally established to ensure that all professional are
equipped, skilled and adopt standardised practice to enable them to work with
parents.
23
Workforce Development
Given the national position with Social Work recruitment and retention and the nature
in which Rotherham has experienced this, the success of Early Intervention and
Prevention is inseparable from our future workforce planning and development. Whilst
there will always be a need for Social Workers, the difficult situation that the
profession is currently experiencing will be diminished once the wider One Children’s
Workforce is developed to provide the right support for children, young people and
families at the earliest point possible. Developing the workforce to have the knowledge
and skills to do this is a huge task, but one that is complimentary to the good practice
already underway in Rotherham be that involvement in the range of CWDC
programmes currently being rolled out, or more localised to discreet projects on
specific areas across the borough.
The Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy requires significant cultural and
structural changes in the way children and adult services work together. Any
significant change programme needs to be supported by a professional development
programme that enhances leadership and change management skills for those
working in the system. In Rotherham a Children’s Services leadership development
programme has been designed which will support working in a multi agency context.
This programme is being piloted in the Swinton Learning Community and will be
rolled out to each Learning Community in the subsequent months.
24
Appendix 1 – Continuum of Needs/Indicators
ROTHERHAM CONTINUUM OF NEEDS/INDICATORS
Levels 1 and 2 - Low risk to Vulnerable
Child’s needs are not clear, not known or not being met. This is the threshold for beginning a
common assessment. Response services are universal support services including voluntary
sector organisation and/or targeted services.
Level 3 and 4 - Complex
Complex needs likely to require longer term intervention from statutory and/or specialist
services. High level additional unmet needs – this will usually require a targeted integrated
response, which will usually include a specialist or statutory service which may be delivered by
the voluntary and community sector. This is also the threshold for a child in need which will
require Children’s Social Care intervention.
Level 5- Acute
Acute needs, requiring statutory
intensive support. This in particular
includes the threshold for child
protection which will require Children’s
Social Care intervention.
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 5
Health/ Self-care skills
 Baby in special care for
over 48 hours after birth
 Low birth weight/ pre-term
 Baby cries constantly
 Multiple birth
 Short term illness or
hospitalisation
 Susceptible to minor
health problems
 Impaired self care skills
e.g. poor self hygiene
 Disability limits self-care
Child often
hungry/feeding
difficulties
Health/ Self-care skills
 Chronic or serious illness
 Onset of enuresis (bed-wetting)/ Encopresis
(soiling)
 Frequent accidents
 Frequent illnesses
 Frequent experimentation with drugs/ substances
 Mild level of disability
 Developmental delay – slow in reaching
milestones
 Poor diet
 Poor growth
 Significantly over/underweight
 Eating problems
 Poor hygiene/cleanliness
 Inadequate dental care
 Child & Adolescent Mental Health issues –
conduct disorder, ADHD, autism
 Vulnerable to mental health problems –parent
has illness
 Early sexual activity
Health/ Self Care Skills
 Terminal illness
 Significant physical/learning
disabilities – reliant on others
 Inadequate diet
 Occasional self harm
 Substance misuse potentially
damaging to health & development
 Multiple A&E attendances causing
concern
 Severe development delay
 Weight gain of infant a cause for
concern - below 25th centile
 Older child takes little responsibility
for self care
 No contact with Health or Dental
Services
Health/ Self-Care Skills
 Physical and/or learning disability
requiring constant supervision
 Suspicious non-accidental injury –
especially for non-mobile child/ young
person
 Persistent self harm
 Persistent substance abuse
 Non-organic failure to thrive
 At risk of female genital mutilation
 At risk of sexual exploitation or
prostitution
 Frequent illness with no medical
explanation
 Frequent attendance at A& E/ GP with
injuries
 Refusal of recommended medical
treatment
 Refusal of treatment leading to
significant harm
 Child has internalised discrimination &
behaviour reflects poor self-image
 No self confidence
Health/ Self-care skills
 Evidence of significant harm or
neglect
 Injuries not consistent with
explanation
 Life threatening self harm or
attempted suicide
 Disclosure of abuse from
child/young person
 Involve in sexual exploitation/
trafficking
 Extreme risk taking behaviour
 Child’s appearance reflects
neglect
 Child’s appearance impaired by
substance misuse &/or other high
risk behaviours
Emotional & Behavioural
Development/ Family &
Social Relationships/ Social
presentation
 Living in family with
relationship difficulties
Emotional & Behavioural Development/ Family &
Social Relationships/ Social Presentation
 Violent parental relationship
 Caring responsibilities that may effect own
development/young carer
 Privately fostered (not known to C&YPS)
Emotional & Behavioural
Development/ Family & Social
Relationships/ Social Presentation
 Poor attachment to main carer
 Readily attaches self to strangers
 Limited understanding of how
Emotional & Behavioural Development/
Family & Social Relationships/ Social
Presentation
 Missing from home on a regular basis
 Poor peer relationships
 In care with placement breakdown
Emotional & Behavioural
Development/ Family & Social
Relationships/ Social Presentation
 Cannot maintain relationships
with peers
 Abusing other children
25













Play or social interaction is
impaired
Poor concentration
Difficulties with peer
relationships
Can be overfriendly or
withdrawn with strangers
Difficulty managing change
in routine
Some evidence of
inappropriate responses or
action
Suffers or perpetrates
bullying, discrimination or
harassment
Disruptive behaviour
Early sexual experience
Teenage pregnancy (1618) where family support
uncertain
Occasional experimenting
with drugs/ substances
Privately fostered
(following clearance
checks & requiring welfare
visits only)
Subject of separation/
contact disputes
Education/ Identity
 Little evidence of play
stimulation
 Lack of awareness of,&
access to, safe play
 Occasional unauthorised
absence
 Poor punctuality – parents
often late to collect.
 Some insecurities around
identity expressed – low
self-esteem
 Not always engaging with
learning
 Lacks confidence.
 Poor concentration.
 Low motivation











Sexualised behaviour
Bereavement or other significant loss, where
child is being affected
Child finds change very difficult
Hostile, aggressive
Anxious, insecure
Disruptive or victimised behaviour continues or
worsens
Behavioural problems/emotional difficulties may
effect development e.g. minor offending, low
level substance misuse, disruptive behaviour,
challenging boundaries above the norm, lacking
self control
Bullying
Lack of positive roll models
Peers involved in challenging behaviours
Offending behaviour resulting in court
appearance or ASBOs












Education/ Identity
 Underachieving, learning difficulties
 Low self esteem
 Requires additional support for learning in more
than one aspect e.g. language /behaviour
/emotional learning.
 Fixed term exclusion
 History of long term poor attendance at school
 Special educational needs at School Action plus
or early years Action plus
 Not in Education, Employment or Training (16-18)
 Limited leisure or social activities
 Absence which requires EWS intervention.
 Unsettled placement Post 16.
 Lack of parental involvement in play/leisure.
actions impact on others
Sexually activity (aged over 14)
Early teenage pregnancy (under
16) or fathering of a child
Involved in criminal activities
Socially isolated
Experiences persistent
discrimination
Young person living independently
& not coping
Young person not entitled to
benefits with no means of support
De-registered from the Child
protection register (within last
12mths)
In care with stable placement:
needs monitoring
Returned home after period of
accommodation
At risk of forced marriage
Criminal or anti-social behaviour
affecting parenting
Education/ Identity
 Poor attendance requiring
enforcement action.
 Profound & multiple learning
difficulties
 Special educational needs
Assessment considered
 5 or more Fixed term exclusions in
a year
 Few leisure or social activities
 Low self esteem impacting on
aspects of school life.
 Regular support required in school.
 Poor parental relationships.
 Poor home school relationships.









Severe challenging behaviour
Sexually active (under 14)
Suffers from periods of depression
Professional concerns – but difficulty in
accessing child/young person
Unaccompanied refugee/ asylum seeker
Additional significant caring
responsibilities affecting development
Isolated from peers
Evident fear of others
Persistent offending







Education/ Identity
 Poor attendance - totally disengaged
 ESO – Education Supervision Order.
 Permanent Exclusion.
 Child/ young person with statement of
special educational needs out of school
 Experiencing persistent, damaging
discrimination
 Low self esteem in range of situations
 Exhibiting behaviour which causes
distress to self and or others.
 May require alternative curriculum /
personalised learning.
 Requires increased levels of intervention
to achieve acceptable behaviour
Young sex offender
Serious or persistent offending
behaviour likely to lead to
custody/ remand in secure
unit/prison
Missing from home for long
periods
On child protection register
Unable to connect cause or effect
of own actions
Child abandoned/ rejected by
parents
Child left in the care of people
who may or do present significant
risk to the child
Education/ Identity
 Child not registered at school School Attendance Order.
 High risk of or actual permanent
Exclusion.
 Institute Legal proceedings for
Non School Attendance
 Exhibiting behaviour which cause
harm to self and or others.
 Child requires small group or
individual tuition to progress
learning.
 Extremely limited achievement
 No engagement with (NEET).
 Anti Social Behaviour Act
Parenting Order applicable
26
Parenting
 Inappropriate anxiety
regarding child/young
person’s health
 No ante natal care
 Concealing pregnancy
 Difficulties in pregnancy
and/or labour
 Taking prescribed
medication for medical
condition(s) that could
impair parenting ability
 Unsupported parent
 Parent less than 19 years
old
 Previous child death
 Other recent death or
bereavement
 Poor home/school links
Parenting
 Delay in seeking health care for child/ young
person
 Post natal depression
 Significant language/ communication difficulties
 Failure to sign on with GP
 Failure to make application for school place
 Failure to attend health appointments
 Difficulties with managing child’s sleeping, feeding
or crying
Parenting
 Supported in the community by
substance misuse team
 Substance or alcohol abuse
affecting parenting
 Unable to meet special needs
without support services
 Physically sick or disabled,
affecting parenting
 Expects child/young person to take
over caring responsibilities (for
self/siblings)
 Recent experience of serious loss
or trauma affecting parenting ability
 Mental illness affecting parenting
 Clothing often dirty or ill-fitting
Parenting
 Parent not engaging with professionals
 Failure to seek appropriate health care
affecting child/ young person’s
development
 Allegation of serious suspicion of serious
injury ,abuse or neglect
 Inability to manage severe challenging
behaviour without support – resulting in
high risk of family breakdown
 Suspected fabricated or induced illness
 Instability & violence in the home
 Previous child removed into care
 Unable to restrict access to child of a
person posing a risk to children
Parenting
 Basic care is frequently
inconsistent/ supervision is
inadequate
 Severe substance misuse
involvement affecting ability to
function on daily basis
 Unable to meet child/young
person’s physical or emotional
needs
 Disclosure from parent of abuse
to child/ young person
 Significantly harms child/ young
person
 Child/ young person rejected from
home
 Escalating or serious domestic
violence
 Evidence of fabricated or induced
illness
 Child/ young person subject of
parental delusions which imply
risk
 Does not provide food or
adequate diet, warmth or other
basics
Emotional Warmth
 Parents show lack of
warmth
 Inconsistent responses to
child /young person by
parent(s)
Stability/ Emotional Warmth
 Marital/ relationship difficulties that impinge on the
child/young person (including contact disputes)
 Anxiety/ low self-esteem
 Sense of helplessness
Stability/ Emotional Warmth
 Leaving child inconsistently with
multiple carers
Stability/ Emotional Warmth
 Child/ young person beyond parental
control
 Child/ young person threatened with
rejection from home
 Parents inconsistent, highly critical or
apathetic towards child/ young person
 Requests young child be accommodated
Stability/ Emotional Warmth
 Unable to protect child/ young
person from harm
 Severe emotional abuse of
child/young person (rejection/
verbal abuse) causing severe
distress to child/young person
 Parent’s emotional experiences
negatively impact on their ability
to meet child’s needs
Guidance & Boundaries/
Stimulation
 Child/ young person not
often exposed to new
experiences; spends
considerable time alone
e.g. watching television
 Lack of consistent
boundaries & guidance
Guidance & Boundaries/ Stimulation
 Condoned absence from school
 Learning not encouraged/ supported
Guidance & Boundaries/
Stimulation
 Chaotic, inconsistent, insecure
parenting
 Indifferent, intolerant, critical,
rejecting
 Significant parenting difficulties with
stimulation, boundaries
 Physical care or supervision of the
Guidance & Boundaries/ Stimulation
 Child left at home alone or with young
carers
Guidance & Boundaries/
Stimulation
 Inability to judge dangerous or
risky situations
27



child/young person inadequate or
erratic
No constructive leisure time or
guided play
Lack of response to child/ young
person’s underachievement at
school
Child/ young person deliberately
kept out of school
Family history &
Functioning/ Wider Family
 Parent, sibling or family
involved in criminal activity
 Family crisis where family
not coping
 Sibling with disability or
significant health problem
Family history & Functioning/ Wider Family
 Family history of parenting difficulties
 Stress/conflict in family relationships
 Acrimonious divorce/ separation
 Criminal activity or offending behaviour in family
affecting child/ young person’s welfare
Family history & Functioning/ Wider
Family
 Instances of domestic violence
Family history & Functioning/ Wider
Family

Child/ young person has been
identified as child/young person in
need but parent/ carer have refused
support

Significant parental discord &
persistent domestic violence

Destructive or unhelpful involvement
from extended family

Family involved in criminal activity;
parent or sibling has received
custodial sentence
Family History &
Functioning/Wider Family
 Person who presents a risk to
children in, or known to,
household
 (High risk of) family breakdown &
risk of young person being
removed/remaining outside the
family
 Unsafe home environment
 Family home used for drug
taking, prostitution, illegal
activities
 Family characterised by conflict
Housing/ Income/
Employment
 Low income/ poor
budgeting limiting a child/
young person’s life
chances
 Home insufficiently heated
in winter
 Housing problems –
frequent moves –
temporary accommodation
 Living on benefits
 Parents find it difficult to
obtain employment due to
poor basic skills
 Financial difficulties
 Overcrowded home
causing family stress
Housing/ Income/ Employment
 Unhygienic housing
 Disconnection of utilities
 Broken windows unattended to
 House visibly damp
 Homeless/accommodation at risk
 Family constantly moving – while concerns need
attention/monitoring
 Chronic debt problems due to mismanagement of
own income
 Parents experience stress due to unemployment
or ‘overworking’
 Chronic unemployment that has severely affected
parents’ own identities
Housing/ Income/ Employment
Housing/ Income/ Employment
 Homeless & not eligible for temporary
housing
 Family not entitled to benefits with no
means of support
 Hygiene of home environment places
child/ young person at risk
Housing/ Income/ Employment
 Extreme poverty/ deprivation
 Accommodation dangerous or
seriously impairing health
 Homelessness
 Drugs or drugs equipment left
within reach of child
 Lack of adequate food, warmth or
clothing
28
Family’s Social integration/
Community resources
 Adequate universal
resources but family may
have access issues
Family’s Social integration/ Community
resources
 Poor family or community support systems
 Persistent harassment from neighbours
 Poor social contacts
 Seeking asylum
 Deprived neighbourhood – resources such as
schools, clinics & play areas inaccessible
 Lured into truanting with peers
Family’s Social integration/
Community resources
Family’s Social integration/ Community
resources

Family chronically socially excluded

High levels of conflict with neighbours
Family’s Social integration
29
Appendix 2 -Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Process
Child is identified as not achieving at
least 1 of the 5 outcomes with
support from universal services
NO
YES
SS
Refer to Social Care
in line with Child
Protection
Procedures
YES
SS
Make referral to
relevant agency,
seeking consent as
appropriate
YES
SS
Discuss concerns with
Lead Worker and/or
join TAC group
FOLLOW CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES IF CHILD AT RISK OF HARM OR NEGLECT
Is child at risk of harm or
neglect?
NO
Check with CAF
Administrator if a CAF has
been completed
or initiated
NO
Initiator to speak to family/YP
and explain the CAF and
TAC process
Do parents/YP/child consent
to a CAF?
NO
Inform CAF
Administrator and
discuss with Line
Manager
Assess child’s needs using
CAF form
Initiator to convene the first
TAC meeting
TAC takes place. Develop
Multi-Agency Plan and
identify Lead Worker seeking
family’s views.
Any Problems which
cannot be resolved
within the TAC should be
referred to the Early
Intervention Manager
LW informs CAF Administrator
of TAC outcomes
Plan to be reviewed at 6
weeks, 3 months and 6
monthly intervals/as needed
Inform CAF
Administrator if LW
changes or case closes
30
ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE COPIED TO CAF ADMINISTRATOR
31